Prisoners

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how long on average elapsed between the time that prisoners were unlocked in the morning and returned to their cells in the evening in the last three months for which figures are available; and what the average number of returns to and releases during the day was  (a) on weekdays and  (b) at weekends, broken down by each (i) adult (A) male and (B) female prison and (ii) (1) male and (2) female young offender institution in England and Wales.

David Hanson: The average weekday time out of cell for the last three available months is shown in the following table. Data is provisional and subject to ongoing validation.
	
		
			   Average weekday time out of cell 
			 May 9.53 
			 June 9.57 
			 July 9.72 
		
	
	The National Offender Management Service does not collate data on the number of returns to cells and releases from cells during the day, on  (a) weekdays and  (b) weekends. Therefore, this data cannot be provided for each prison.

Armed Forces: Dogs

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much on average it cost to train fully a military working dog of each breed used in the latest period for which figures are available.

Kevan Jones: The approximate average cost of training a successful dog by type in 2006-07 (the latest year for which data is available) is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Type of dog  Cost per successful dog (£) 
			 Patrol Dogs 8,200 
			 Army/RAF Police Dogs 15,000 
			 MOD Police Dogs (1)— 
			 Arms and Explosives Search Dogs 22,600 
			 Vehicle Search Dogs 7,300 
			 Multi Purpose Drug Detection Dogs 15,500 
			 Tracker Dogs 8,500 
			 (1) Training a Ministry of Defence police or Military Guard Service dog up to the point on its introduction into service will cost the same as training an Army or RAF police dog. Wethersfield dog section provides further continuous annual training for all MOD police dogs. The cost of this additional training is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Ethnic Groups: Finance

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her policy is on the funding by  (a) her Department and  (b) local authorities of groups or organisations that form, operate or advertise themselves on the basis of ethnicity.

Sadiq Khan: The Commission on Integration and Cohesion was concerned that groups based on single identities were potentially divisive. However, as both CLG and local Government fund of bodies which aim to promote equality of opportunity, we consulted earlier this year on cohesion guidance for funders, looking at how funders could both promote equality of opportunity and cohesion through the conditions they placed on funding. We will be publishing the results of that consultation shortly, along with next steps.

Non-Domestic Rates: Ports

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consultations were undertaken with those businesses operating within ports prior to the introduction of business rates for port tenants; what form those consultations took; and how long the consultation period was.

John Healey: Consultation about removal of the power of the Secretary of State to prescribe rateable values, for ports and other utilities, was undertaken in "Modernising Local Government Finance : A Green Paper" published by DETR in September 2000 and in "Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Service" a White Paper published by ODPM in December 2001. The Local Government Act 2003 then removed the power to prescribe a formula for rating statutory ports.
	The port operators were advised by letter of the review of ports and its background in May 2006. Since then there have been detailed discussions to establish the facts, on a case by case basis, with interested parties both among port operators and port tenants and the time taken has varied, dependent on the complexity of each

Overseas Aid: Education

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much and what proportion of UK aid was allocated to education projects in the most recent resource allocation round; what proportion of these projects are located in states affected by significant conflict; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The latest comprehensive spending review committed DFID to increasing its expenditure through multilateral and bilateral channels on education to £1 billion a year by 2010-11. This represents 12 per cent. of the Department of International Development's (DFID) planned total departmental spending in 2010-11.
	Data is not held centrally on DFID's future spending allocation for education in states affected by conflict. Nevertheless, DFID is committed to increased support for fragile states (which include most of those significantly affected by conflict). Support to education in these countries is therefore expected to rise over the coming years.

Alcoholic Drinks: Young People

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been  (a) charged and  (b) convicted of persistently selling alcohol to children under section 147A of the Licensing Act 2003.

Alan Campbell: Section 147A of the Licensing Act 2003, as amended by section 23 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 came into force on 6 April 2007.
	As a result, complete data for this offence will be available for 2008 and beyond. Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009. Data in relation to individuals charged with offences is not held centrally.

Members: Correspondence

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Manchester Central of 25 July 2008, on JT, reference M15977/8.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 14 October 2008
	The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Meg Hillier) wrote to my hon. Friend on 9 October 2008.

Departmental Press

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 2 July 2008,  Official Report, column 1003W, on departmental press, if he will  (a) estimate the cost of answering the Question and  (b) set out the cost assumptions on which that estimate is based.

Kevin Brennan: The information requested by the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) cannot be separately identified on the Cabinet Office's accounting system. To seek to identify the costs involved would require consulting individual budget holders across the Department who in turn would have to identify relevant expenditure in order to obtain a total for the Department. The Department estimates that the cost of obtaining this information would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold as stated by my hon. Friend the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey) on 28 November 2006,  Official Report, column 87WS.